Declan Rice | Arsenal £105m player

[Jimmy Greenhoff's Chest]

Superb player, who slots into our midfield three immediately.

Along with Odegaard and Partey, Rice allows us a chance to pick up the high level performances we've seen last season.

Welcome to Arsenal, Declan Rice.

Thought he was the Partey replacement, so it'll be Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, with Zinchenko joining in

 

[GoonerBear]

Shame he was a player I loved watching and wanted to see improve, but IMO he will be regarded as a flop for ultimately going to a club that has limited to no success. Would have loved him to improve bit by bit, be a captain that leads an European dominating English club to 1 or 2 Cls whilst improving England nt at the same time too.

I just don’t think Arteta is that great. Ten Hag looked just as good as Artetas 3 year built team in less than a year.

Arsenal seem like a regular top 4 club now buying flops of the succesful clubs like Zinchenko, Jesus, Havertz, Odegaard and maybe even Partey, looking more like a rebuilt good team than a great one like Klopps Liverpool or Peps City.

I do wonder what will happen to Arteta if he misses out in the CL next year,
seems unlikely but not impossible too (possible improvements of Liverpool, United, Newscastle, Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa - with new players or managers) and Rice chose such a move when Arsenal didnt achieve anything of notice this year except just a notice of impr0vement.

Ten hag got 3rd, 2 cup finals & a semi final in less than a year & just 1 transfer window. Madness the different in quality.

It was ultimately not the right fee, not the right time or the right position because we ultimately have Casemiro - something/someone I see as the best and most experienced version of Rice himself.

What a strange post all in.

 

[GoonerBear]

Thought he was the Partey replacement, so it'll be Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, with Zinchenko joining in

If Partey leaves there will be a replacement for him brought in as well.

 

[R0nald0]

A fantastic player and an excellent signing. The people suggesting he's only worth £50m are on crack!

 

[Zagoon]

Thought he was the Partey replacement, so it'll be Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, with Zinchenko joining in

Partey will likely remain at the club. And if Partey leaves, he will be replaced by another ready made player, or close to it. Think Caicedo or Tchouameni if possible.

The likely starting midfield for us next season would be as below, with Rice playing the Xhaka role.

Rice---Odegaard
-----Partey

With an adjusted back 4, depending on the needed game situation.

 

[tinfish]

Partey will likely remain at the club. And if Partey leaves, he will be replaced by another ready made player, or close to it. Think Caicedo or Tchouameni if possible.

The likely starting midfield for us next season would be..

Rice---Odegaard
-----Partey

With an adjusted back 4, depending on the needed game situation.

no way we would spend another 100m on those players you mentioned.

Partly the reason why I agree partey will/should stay. It’s too hard to replace him currently.

it doesn’t make sense to change the midfield core entirely after our best ever season in the PL (points total)

 

[tenpoless]

I guess I'm different than most people in that I see more value in Mason Mount but I don't see anything special with Rice, rather than the other way around.

 

[BaguetteBoy]

A fantastic player and an excellent signing. The people suggesting he's only worth £50m are on crack!

pretty sure you would be saying the same thing if he had gone to any other rivals

 

[cesc's_mullet]

I guess I'm different than most people in that I see more value in Mason Mount but I don't see anything special with Rice, rather than the other way around.

United didn't sign him, so of course you don't.

 

[NicolaSacco]

Partey will likely remain at the club. And if Partey leaves, he will be replaced by another ready made player, or close to it. Think Caicedo or Tchouameni if possible.

The likely starting midfield for us next season would be..

Rice---Odegaard
-----Partey

With an adjusted back 4, depending on the needed game situation.

It’s an impressive midfield isn’t it. Not sure what the back ups are like in that position though..

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

I think the reason Rice was Arsenal's first pick over Caceido was the leadership and character that Rice brings.

He's someone that comes into that dressing room and becomes a leader, and Arsenal were said to lack that, especially with Xhaka leaving.

Immensely popular at West Ham, and within the dressing room at England, he carries himself and has the stature of a captain both on and off the pitch. You just don't see that with Caceido just now. I think that's a big part of the 'overpay'.

That's fair. I'm interested to see how he works out at Arsenal either way.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

Good player, but £105m, no way.

 

[Nish115]

It’s an impressive midfield isn’t it. Not sure what the back ups are like in that position though..

Ramsdale
White - Saliba - Gabriel - Zinchenko
Partey
Saka - Odegaard - Rice - Martinelli
Jesus

Turner
Tomiyasu - Timber - Kiwior - Tierney
Jorginho
Nelson - Vieira - Havertz - ESR
Trossard

Hein
Holding
Elneny
Nketiah
Nwaneri* (Could play a breakout season part this season)
​

As things stand this will be our squad. If Partey leaves I imagine we'll move for another midfielder, Lavia etc. Can't see Holding or Elneny playing a big role this season, probably more there for the experience and leadership as we've lost Xhaka. Our first XI and back 6 depth is very good imo. Think still question marks over Nelson/Vieira. I imagine we'll see what they can do this season then move next summer if needed.

Focus now needs to be on sales, lots of players to shift out.

 

[zaafi]

Partey will likely remain at the club. And if Partey leaves, he will be replaced by another ready made player, or close to it. Think Caicedo or Tchouameni if possible.

The likely starting midfield for us next season would be as below, with Rice playing the Xhaka role.

Rice---Odegaard
-----Partey

With an adjusted back 4, depending on the needed game situation.

Why would Partey play behind Rice?

 

[TsuWave]

fecking hell. Arsenal has spent some money.

 

[horsechoker]

If his name was Déclan Riz and he cost £100m he would be lambasted every time he didn't put in a 10/10 performance.

Grealish flew under the radar with some average performances and the same will happen with Rice if he doesn't turn out to be truly world class

 

[cesc's_mullet]

It’s an impressive midfield isn’t it. Not sure what the back ups are like in that position though..

It's hard to say how we will line-up exactly, but we have some decent depth at the moment.

CM:
Odegaard
Havertz
ESR
Trossard
Vieira

DM:
Rice
Partey
Jorginho
El Neny

The main question at this point is whether Partey is staying, and if not, will we sign anyone else to add to the squad?

It will be interesting to see whether midfield with Odegaard and Havertz will be able to defend well enough? Not that Xhaka was a great defender by any means, but I'd trust him more than Havertz.

 

[GoonerBear]

fecking hell. Arsenal has spent some money.

Everyone has to be honest. If you get Onana and Hojlund, ETH would have spent the best part of £350m+ just over 2 summer windows, pre Qatari takeover with Glazer restrictions.

 

[tenpoless]

United didn't sign him, so of course you don't.

Not really and I think the price sort of put me off as well. He was rumored to cost 80-90m even a year ago.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

If his name was Déclan Riz and he cost £100m he would be lambasted every time he didn't put in a 10/10 performance.

Grealish flew under the radar with some average performances and the same will happen with Rice if he doesn't turn out to be truly world class

Haha, you must have missed essentially every Grealish related posts on here for at least a year.

 

[Zagoon]

Why would Partey play behind Rice?

Dont think about that shape statically as you see there. Think about the roles those three can play, in and out of possession.

Odegaard will play the 10 role more, Partey the 6 role, and Rice would play the shuttler/box to box or 8 role more. These roles would be interchangeable based on the situational requirements in game, and the players are all capable of assuming the needed responsibility where required. Odegaard is most important though, he will make that midfield tick.

The challenge will be how we rotate from this, and keep our technical quality at a high level. Think we need a deputy to Partey to help make that happen, so hoping we go for Lavia or that the rumoured Bitello is a good player.

 

[WeePat]

It’s an impressive midfield isn’t it. Not sure what the back ups are like in that position though..

Forget the names on paper. It’s about how they gel and work together. Partey the sitting DM, Rice the box to box destroyer and Odegaard the creative force. If Arteta can devise a way that gets the best of each 3 and develop them into a functioning unit then how ‘impressive’ each individual is is irrelevant. I actually think Partey will be the odd man out as I can’t imagine Arsenal have spent £65M on Havertz to have him sitting on the bench as backup.

 

[Skills]

Dont think about that shape statically as you see there. Think about the roles those three can play, in and out of possession.

Odegaard will play the 10 role more, Partey the 6 role, and Rice would play the shuttler/box to box or 8 role more. These roles would be interchangeable based on the situational requirements, and the players are all capable of assuming the needed responsibility when required.

He's really good at shuttling the ball from his LCB to his LB. One of the best around at that role.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Everyone has to be honest. If you get Onana and Hojlund, ETH would have spent the best part of £350m+ just over 2 summer windows, pre Qatari takeover with Glazer restrictions.

Arsenal:
2019/20 - €160.80m
2020/21 - €86.00m
2021/22 - €167.40m
2022/23 - €192.36m
2023/24 - €232.21m
Total - €838.77m

United:
2019/20 - €236.80m
2020/21 - €83.80m
2021/22 - €142.00m
2022/23 - €243.28m
2023/24 - €119.20m *
Total - €825.08m

* Including reported Onana fee.

 

[Conor]

Good player, I don't think he'll ever be worth that price, though. It will be very funny if Arsenal finish worse than 2nd next season.

 

[horsechoker]

Haha, you must have missed essentially every Grealish related posts on here for at least a year.

On here yeah but in the press nothing.

 

[Rajiztar]

Forget the names on paper. It’s about how they gel and work together. Partey the sitting DM, Rice the box to box destroyer and Odegaard the creative force. If Arteta can devise a way that gets the best of each 3 and develop them into a functioning unit then how ‘impressive’ each individual is is irrelevant. I actually think Partey will be the odd man out as I can’t imagine Arsenal have spent £65M on Havertz to have him sitting on the bench as backup.

Yes arsenal now having the spine of players who can give the final push to get the big trophies. Within two three years they have to win pl and it's not far away for them last season. They put all they have to give enough tools to arteta. Will have to see it's enough for them to win pl.

 

[TsuWave]

Everyone has to be honest. If you get Onana and Hojlund, ETH would have spent the best part of £350m+ just over 2 summer windows, pre Qatari takeover with Glazer restrictions.

This wasn't an indictment and/or jab at Arsenal. It was me commenting on their belief in Arteta/willingness to push after the title charge last year.

You come across defensive and talking about "everyone has" and "ifs". It wasn't a negative comment. I'm well aware United seemingly believes in Ten Hag (though I'm underwhelmed with some of the players we've targeted)

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Arsenal:
2019/20 - €160.80m
2020/21 - €86.00m
2021/22 - €167.40m
2022/23 - €192.36m
2023/24 - €232.21m
Total - €838.77m

United:
2019/20 - €236.80m
2020/21 - €83.80m
2021/22 - €142.00m
2022/23 - €243.28m
2023/24 - €119.20m *
Total - €825.08m

* Including reported Onana fee.

Further to this, no doubt it's huge money that's been spent by us. But at least we have seemingly transformed the squad.

We've gone from having a bloated squad full of aged, overpaid players that had absolutely no resale value nor any improvement left - to having the one of the youngest squads in the league that has essentially every key player under the age of 27.

Spoiler

Saka - 21

Saliba - 22
Martinelli - 22
ESR - 22
Timber - 22

Nelson - 23
Vieira - 23
Kiwior - 23

Odegaard - 24
Tomiyasu - 24
Rice - 24
Havertz - 24
Eddie - 24

White - 25
Ramsdale - 25
Gabriel - 25

Jesus - 26
Zinchenko - 26
KT - 26

The only senior players that would get gametime over 27 are:
Trossard - 28
Partey - 30
Jorginho - 31

Not including fringe players like - Holding (27), Pepe (28), Turner (29), El Neny (30), Soares (31). I think only El Neny and Turner will be on the list come the start of the season.

 

[GoonerBear]

This wasn't an indictment and/or jab at Arsenal. It was me commenting on their belief in Arteta/willingness to push after the title charge last year.

You come across defensive and talking about "everyone has" and "ifs". It wasn't a negative comment. I'm well aware United seemingly believes in Ten Hag (though I'm underwhelmed with some of the players we've targeted)

Apologies if my post came across as overly defensive, it's just we hear all the time now how much money Arteta has spent, while not really taking into account that's the normal now in the top 6.

Net Spend we are really poor at in comparison to the likes of City, but that's because when Arteta took charge the squad was full of aging players on big wages, the likes of Ozil, Auba, Lacazette, Kolasinac etc who had little resale value.

I think we undersold the likes of Leno, Guendouzi, Mavropanos and should have sold the likes of Maitland-Niles earlier so we still haven't been without fault.

 

[GuyfromAustria]

it doesn’t make sense to change the midfield core entirely after our best ever season in the PL (points total)

*3rd best season

 

[Telsim]

Fantastic signing for them, although insanely overpriced. They are having a strong window, fitting for a club that wants to challenge.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

He'll be very good for them. Hope we can make some more good moves this window as well.

 

[tenpoless]

Fantastic signing for them, although insanely overpriced. They are having a strong window, fitting for a club that wants to challenge.

No amount of Declan Rice would give them a better title challenge than last season.

 

[roonster09]

Further to this, no doubt it's huge money that's been spent by us. But at least we have seemingly transformed the squad.

We've gone from having a bloated squad full of aged, overpaid players that had absolutely no resale value nor any improvement left - to having the one of the youngest squads in the league that has essentially every key player under the age of 27.

Spoiler

Saka - 21

Saliba - 22
Martinelli - 22
ESR - 22
Timber - 22

Nelson - 23
Vieira - 23
Kiwior - 23

Odegaard - 24
Tomiyasu - 24
Rice - 24
Havertz - 24
Eddie - 24

White - 25
Ramsdale - 25
Gabriel - 25

Jesus - 26
Zinchenko - 26
KT - 26

The only senior players that would get gametime over 27 are:
Trossard - 28
Partey - 30
Jorginho - 31

Not including fringe players like - Holding (27), Pepe (28), Turner (29), El Neny (30), Soares (31). I think only El Neny and Turner will be on the list come the start of the season.

I think most of the teams will be in the same boat, some might be bit younger than others.

On a high level If I divide our squad into few categories, it would be like this

We need a CF as a high priority and probably next season it will be RB.

We have 4 players 30+, 2 of them are not needed and good chance will be gone. If we sign Hojlund and Greenwood comes back then they will be first team players and they are at very good age.

Core player	Age		First team players	Age		Squad players	Age		Might be sold	Age
Mount	24​		Antony	23​		Garnacho	19​		Maguire	30​
Rashford	25​		Dalot	24​		Pellistri	21​		Fred	30​
Martinez	25​		AWB	25​		Sancho	23​		McTominay	26​
Onana	27​		Martial	27​		Malacia	23​		Van de Beek	26​
Bruno	28​		Eriksen	31​		Lindelof	28​
Shaw	28​
Varane	30​
Casemiro	31​

Haven't checked Liverpool squad, would be very surprised if they have lot of old players. Their attackers are at good age except Salah and he is still going strong.

Also one point about "we are set for years" is, things change very quickly in football. For example 2-3 season ago we had Rashford, Martial, Greenwood with 2 of them scoring 20+ and Greenwood scoring 17. Just last year, we had 0 attackers as Martial was crocked, Greenwood was gone and Rashford was at his lowest point in his career.

Saying all that, Arsenal are in very strong position and have done very good job in shaping their squad.

 

[HookedOnAPhelan]

He’s decent, that’s it. £105m is lunacy.

 

[Dec9003]

Really good signing for them, even at the price. No real excuses for Arsenal not to put a strong title challenge in next season.

 

[Hammondo]

£50m for one of the world's best CDMs who happens to be 24 years? No chance

What do you mean by one of the world's best? Top 10?

 

[zaafi]

What do you mean by one of the world's best? Top 10?

No, I mean one of the world's best in his position. Casemiro, Kimmich and Rodri are better but don't think there are anyone else better than him as a CDM.

 

[Hammondo]

No, I mean one of the world's best in his position. Casemiro, Kimmich and Rodri are better but don't think there are anyone else better than him as a CDM.

There are other players you could argue are as good or better.